What is the best public place in Chicago? Sylvia O. thinks it is a community garden on Chicago’s far South-East Side, Brian S. nominated the Chicago Riverwalk for its “ingenuity and imagination,” and Afshan H. chose Harmony Park, the “go-to place in the Village of Arlington Heights.” The community, of course, is the expert. The [...]

What: Situated in the heart of Madison, a market whose fame extends well beyond the city. Why it Works: On Saturdays this market surrounds the Capitol Square. The vendors are friendly Wisconsin growers. On Wednesdays the market is on a street that runs from the Square to the Monona Terrace. The Capitol Square is on [...]

The third in a series of reflections from the travels of a 34-year veteran Traffic Engineer from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Gary Toth, who had previously never been abroad, spent a week in the United Arab Emirates capital city of Abu Dhabi. He found the city to be rapidly positioning itself to become [...]

The battle over the right to use public spaces on private property has been played out throughout the US over the last half century. Many developers, in exchange for a more favorable floor-to-area ratio (FAR) allowance, were required to build ground level public plazas. Unfortunately, most of these plazas were public only in name; [...]

What: Scotland’s principal shopping street, and the heart of Glasgow. Why it Works: Buchanan Street has been Glasgow’s premier street for the past two centuries and is an integral part of the fabric of Glasgow’s historic city centre. With its richly ornamented Victorian and Edwardian commercial buildings as a backdrop, Buchanan Street is Glasgow’s grandest [...]

What: A multi-use transfer point for all main lines of mass transit in Tokyo, this station is filled with people from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. every day of the week. Why it Works: The Japanese know how to use their valuable space efficiently. This is urban development at its best; you can go to [...]

The second in a three-year series, the Imagine Miami Changemaker Conference II on July 18, 2009 focuses on the power of place. Local residents will learn how to create and sustain the public spaces that build community, from community gardens to family-friendly parks and city blocks. Presented by the Human Services Coalition (HSC), the event [...]

Contributed by Mandy Johnson On May 14th, Cynthia Nikitin of PPS keynoted the Ontarians Walking Now workshop in Blind River, Ontario. Shortly after the workshop, the Blind River attendees put together a plan to make a beautiful but desolate beach in a central part of the town one of ten great places to visit and [...]

The Placemaking Chicago campaign is asking Chicagoans to nominate their favorites places. PPS and Metropolitan Planning Council kicked off the campaign last fall with training courses for municipal and community leaders and publishing PPS’s first handbook for community-based placemaking. The campaign is now seeking to broaden the conversation in Chicago about places and placemaking by [...]

In 2006, PPS was hired by the city of Tempe to create a comprehensive open space plan for their downtown, which has experienced rapid growth in recent years. The plan proposed improvements for more than 30 places that made up the fabric of the downtown experience in order to create a more lively, pedestrian friendly environment [...]

Eliminating or heavily restricting cars would be impossible for nearly every city and suburb in America. Yet a small car-free town in Germany profiled in this week’s New York Times has intrigued and inspired Americans to consider a tantalizing possibility: what if we didn’t need cars to perform everyday tasks? The #1 most emailed article [...]

Last week while visiting Portland, OR, I stumbled upon the Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center. I was intrigued by the building and surrounding area – the square block space was inviting and offered a great place to sit and get a smoothie at the center’s café. Inside, the building resembles a transformed warehouse with large [...]